A MAN who admitted to slitting the throat of a friend and confronting him with a gun during a drunken brawl has been found guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent.

Mark Raymond Hinchcliffe was on trial in the Supreme Court for the attempted murder of Scott Williams, a friend and co-worker at the time of the May 2011 attack.

This afternoon it took a 12-person jury of five women and seven men less than three hours to find Hinchcliffe not guilty of attempted murder, but guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent.

As the verdict was read out, Hinchcliffe, dressed in a black suit and black and grey striped shirt, shook his head.

His mother and a young woman in the public gallery broke down crying after the jury was dismissed.

Hinchcliffe had admitted to cutting the throat of Mr Williams, but denied it was intentional, claiming he drew the knife in an act of self defence.

Over the course of the seven-day trial, the court was told tales of bikies, love games and heavy drinking.

During his evidence, Mr Williams said after he and Hinchcliffe had been drinking together, they cruised Rockingham bars on Saturday, May 8, 2011, in search of bikies.

He said they were looking for associates of an outlaw motorcycle gang leader known throughout the trial only as “Theo” who had reportedly called Hinchcliffe a “piece of s***” on the phone.

When the pair failed to find any bikies to fight, they went back to Hinchcliffe's North Yunderup home, near Mandurah, where they continued to drink, smoke and eat pies.

However, the mood soon turned nasty and Mr Williams said Hinchcliffe started to punch him then made him clean up his own blood afterwards.

Mr Williams said while he was in the laundry, he “heard a pop” and something graze his head, alleging Hinchcliffe shot him.

Mr Williams said he then moved into the kitchen, where Hinchcliffe pulled out a knife from the knife block and deliberately slit his throat.

The victim then fled the house and was helped my neighbours who called 000 minutes later.

However, the defence argued Mr Williams was wrong and Hinchcliffe only grabbed the knife to scare Williams during the brawl.

During his evidence, Hinchcliffe insisted they went to three Rockingham bars to find his on-again, off-again girlfriend, but when they could not find her, they went back to his place.

Hinchcliffe said the pair started fighting because Mr Williams wanted to buy drugs off a workmate and he called him a “junkie” because they had earlier made a pact to get off drugs.

Mr Williams then hit Hinchcliffe, so he hit him back and then Hinchcliffe said he landed a “flurry of punches” on his friend, knocking him to the ground.

He insisted he told Mr Williams to clean up his act, not physically clean up, before going to his bedroom to “calm down”.

However, Hinchcliffe said he went back into the kitchen because he heard Mr Williams talking on the phone to someone and mentioned his name.

He said Mr Williams asked to use his gun to get the drunks, but he refused. Hinchcliffe did eventually bring out his loaded gun, he said to prove Mr Williams would not take it, then when they were in the laundry, he hit him on the head with it, causing the gun to fire a shot into the ceiling.

Panicking, Hinchcliffe said he hid the gun in a neighbour’s car and came back to find Mr Williams threatening him with a beer bottle, so he lunged for a knife to scare him but as he turned around, he heard a slitting noise.

He repeatedly told the court he did not see any blood and did not know if he had made contact with Mr Williams, who fled the house.

Mr Hinchcliffe was eventually picked up by police, who saw him throw Mr Williams’ mobile phone down a drain, before arresting him.

Today the jury was told there were three possible verdicts, attempted murder, grievous bodily harm with intent, and grievous bodily harm.

After the jury was dismissed, Hinchcliffe's lawyer Laurie Levy said the verdict was “the most difficult one to come to terms with” because it rejected all of his client’s evidence, but also rejected the prosecution’s case that he tried to kill Mr Williams.

Hinchcliffe has been remanded in custody and will be sentenced on Friday, April 5.

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